Burning Out
by HeiszKetchup
Summary: Every strength has a weakness, every power has a downfall. And in Yang's case, her semblance is a double-edged sword - the brighter she burns, the more she risks burning out.
1. Burning Bright

The night after the fight with Roman's robot was a quiet one. It hadn't taken long for the Vale Police Department to show up on the scene – inadequate as they were, even they couldn't miss the enormous battle of light, ice, and explosions. By the time they got there, however, all that remained were the remnants of the battle – shattered concrete, scattered pieces of robot, and a strangely large amount of rose petals amongst them.

The owner of said rose petals had fled shortly before, her team tagging behind her, walking down the empty streets of Vale. It had taken them a while to track down Sun and Neptune, but they'd succeeded – Yang had demanded they buy her a bowl of noodles, with chicken in it, because that's what they were ("We're noodles?" "I think she means we're chicken, Sun.").

A little while later, a very satisfied Yang was falling asleep on an airship bound for Beacon, with Blake poking her every other minute to make sure she didn't really fall asleep and drool all over her shoulder again. Ruby and Weiss sat across from the pair, they themselves looking fairly comatose as well, exhaustion of the evening finally kicking in.

"Quit poking me," Yang drawled, as a fairly violent poke left a sore spot on her forehead.

"Quit falling asleep on me," came the Faunus' reply, evidently unamused, "I know I'll have to wash the outfit when I get home, but I don't need you trying to help with it."

"Oh, come on! I don't drool that much!"

"You do," came the twin responses across from them, deadpan tones echoing in the near-empty cabin of the airship.

Whatever response Yang had was cut off by her yawn, one that made her resemble a bear waking up from a long hibernation. That, or an Ursa who had just had a sword shoved somewhere unpleasant. It was really open to interpretation.

Blake gave her partner a light shove off her shoulder, _again_ , as a sudden rattle shook the airship, signifying their landing on Beacon's docks. Ruby and Weiss stood slowly, grasping their weapons tight as they did so. Yang, on the other hand, seemed to have spaced out – Blake reached out and flicked her nose, shaking the brawler from her reverie with a snort.

"Blake- wha?"

"We're here."

Yang blinked repeatedly, seeming surprised by the answer. Her partner extended a hand to her, slight concern knitting her eyebrows. The blonde shook her head before grasping the hand, nodding in thanks as she was pulled to her feet. With a stretch of her arms that would put a gymnast to shame, the brawler sauntered through the open door, moving to meet the other two members of her team.

"Man, I'm tired!" she proclaimed, coming up to stand beside her sister and Weiss, Blake trailing behind, "a good, long rest is exactly what I need after a night full of –"

"Full of what, exactly?"

Yang froze, the familiar voice of Glynda Goodwitch stopping her words in their tracks. The team turned as their headmistress came towards them, the same look on her face as always – the look of having just swallowed a lemon, which was understandable, considering she worked with Ozpin all day. Yang had once earned three weeks of detention by suggesting to the woman that she change her nameplate to read "Ozpin wrangler" instead of "boring old headmistress."

But wrangling Ozpin she was not, at the moment, which meant she had all the time in the world to interrogate the team. An interrogation that would probably take a long time, considering she was still waiting for an answer to her first question.

"Er, um…"

"NOODLES!"

Yang's sudden reply cut off Ruby's hesitant start, drawing attention to the blonde, who looked just as confused as the rest of them.

"Noodles, Ms. Xiao Long?"

"Uh, yeah!" Yang continued, evidently making her story up on the spot, "we were out eating noodles. Sun and Neptune recommended us this great new spot, so we decided to check it out. You can smell my breath if you want proof!"

Glynda nearly looked as disgusted as Weiss at the suggestion.

"No, thank you, I will pass on that. And as for your sudden dietary needs, your behaviour is, while understandable, still inexcusable. The four of you are late for curfew, and as such are – _Ms. Xiao Long, did you fall asleep in the middle of my sentence?!"_

An elbow to the ribcage, a pinch to her upper arm, and a solid foot on top of her own immediately brought Yang back to the realm of consciousness. Supressing the scream of pain, the blonde blinked the tears from her eyes before responding.

"Sorry, prof, I always get sleepy after I eat."

Glynda didn't look convinced in the least, but Ruby saved her sister.

"Sorry, Ms. Goodwitch, she's just really tired. We all kind of are, actually. Can we save the lecture until the morning?"

"You're all tired. From eating noodles."

They all nodded in reply, though Weiss looked ready to throw the rest of her team to the wolves and run for it, for the sake of what little remained of her dignity. Glynda stared them down for a moment, before she turned on her heel and left.

"My office, tomorrow morning," she called back to them, not bothering to grace them with the honour of actually turning around, "be late, and you'll regret it."

Calling out both an apology and a thank you, Ruby turned quickly before Glynda could change her mind, grabbing her sister's arm and yanking the already half-asleep blonde back towards the dormitories. Weiss glanced at Blake, confusion on both of their faces.

"Was it just me, or did Yang seem _way_ more tired than usual?"

Blake quirked an eyebrow at her white-themed teammate.

"Was that supposed to be a rhetorical question?"

Weiss rolled her eyes and moved to follow the receding sisters, Blake doing the same.

They caught up with the pair at the dormitory, entering the room just in time to see Ruby give her older sister a shove towards her bed, nearly sending her careening into the stack of books that held it up.

"Enough talk," the redhead growled, "now sleep!"

Yang might have muttered something in reply, but whatever it might have been was drowned out by the sounds of her climbing, before the words were muffled by her pillow, trailing off as she immediately fell asleep. No soft snoring emanated from the blonde though – an absence that was immediately noticed by the others standing in the room.

"So she can sleep quietly," Weiss muttered absently, "maybe we should smother her with a pillow more often…"

Blake rolled her eyes, before addressing the younger sister.

"Ruby," she said, the girl in question turning to face her, "why was Yang so tired?"

"Ha," Ruby replied, far too quickly to seem natural, "have you _met_ Yang?"

Silence met her words, before Weiss broke it.

"Remind me to teach you how to actually lie."

Ruby sputtered indignantly, but Blake ignored it, pressing on anyways.

"I've never seen her that tired," she pointed out flatly, "even when she stays up all night reading Achieve Men fanfiction, she never falls asleep on the spot like that."

Ruby didn't reply, instead rocking back and forth slightly, biting her lip. After a moment, she sighed and shook her head, short strands of hair waving with the action.

"I'm not the one who should tell you," she said, raising looks of confusion from her partner and teammate, "Yang's the only one who should really explain it."

She glanced back to Blake and Weiss, eyes pleading.

"Just wait until morning. I'll get her to tell you then."

There wasn't really anything to do other than accept; Ruby wasn't about to explain it, and if they woke up Yang, they'd probably only get slurred gibberish in response. Begrudgingly accepting their situation, Blake and Weiss nodded, moving off to tend to their own night time habits.

* * *

Yang didn't wake up the next morning. Not in the sense she died – though, Weiss was doing her best to kill her with her glares – but rather that she slept on, dead to the world. Blake took no small relief over the amount of drool on Yang's pillow, and the fact that her clothing had been spared of it.

Ruby looked nervous, her eyes constantly flitting back to Yang, occasionally resting on Blake or Weiss. Whatever concerns over the comatose brawler that had been raised were immediately shot down, brushed off, or even flatout ignored. But with Glynda's meeting drawing ever closer – they'd all woken up to a message on their scrolls stating the time – Weiss was growing ever impatient by the blonde's sleeping on.

Eventually, the heiress snapped, patience reaching the end of the rope.

"That's it," she growled, moving towards Yang's bed before anyone could stop her, "this has gone on long enough. I'm waking her up."

"NO!"

Ruby's cry froze the dormitory, Blake and Weiss's motions stopping immediately. There was stillness for a second – Weiss's hand an inch away from Yang's skin. Slowly and quietly, as though a bomb were activated and would go off with any loud noises, Ruby began to speak.

"Weiss," she said, her voice even despite being filled with desperation, "take your hand away from Yang."

In slight confusion and mostly in fear, Weiss complied, pulling her hand back and slowly stepping off Blake's bunk, back down to the floor. Silence returned for a moment, before Ruby spoke again.

"We can't wake Yang."

"What? But why no–"

"We just _can't_."

"But what about our meeting with –"

" _Weiss_."

The heiress's name hadn't come from Ruby, but rather from Blake, who recognized an undebatable situation when she saw one.

"Trust Ruby," the Faunus continued, "she knows something we don't."

At those words, Weiss's glare shot back to Ruby, who instinctively raised her hands in defense.

"Explain, _now._ "

But before Ruby could comply, an alarm went off, signifying the nearing Goodwitch meeting. Ruby leapt for it immediately, turning it off in less than a second, her eyes jumping worriedly to Yang's sleeping form. When there was no reaction, she let out an audible breath, looking back to her confused teammates.

"After the meeting," she said, her tone leaving no room for argument. Weiss tried anyways.

"But–"

 _"After_."

A moment of silence passed, the tension in the room obvious, before Weiss conceded defeat and nodded.

"After," she repeated, "after the meeting."

* * *

After the meeting, Yang _still_ slept on. Blake had come to the conclusion that the robot had either punched her into a coma, in which case she chastised herself for not seeing the apparently invisible signs, or that her exhaustion had somehow transferred to Yang, despite Blake herself still being tired. Weiss had come to the conclusion that Yang had been blessed with the luck of the gods, as she had been spared the wrath of Glynda Goodwitch with the rest of them, despite having been absent from the meeting. Although, she had to admit, it probably had to do with Ruby racing to the meeting ahead of the monochrome pair, giving her a few minutes to explain something to Glynda.

Ruby, however, didn't seem concerned or confused at all. Instead, she seemed rather used to the whole spectacle – she still shot nervous glances to her sister, but upon closer inspection Blake realized they were looks of anticipation, not of worry. Something was coming, and whatever it was, the Faunus was willing to bet that Weiss would throw a fit about it. She was predictable that way.

The time to be predictable did indeed come after the meeting – they returned to the dorm to find Yang still sleeping, before taking a seat on the lower bunks. Weiss and Blake sat on the latter's bunk, while Ruby took the former's. There was silence, the pair waiting for an answer, an explanation, _anything_ , before Ruby blurted out a single phrase.

"It's her semblance."

There was silence as the two absorbed the information, before Weiss caused Blake to win her one sided bet.

"I'm sorry, _what?_ "

Ruby began to repeat the phrase, but Weiss waved it away.

"It was rhetorical," she continued, "I heard you the first time. What I _don't_ get, however, is how this has anything to do with her semblance. That, apparently, is lighting herself on fire, getting punched through highway pillars, and somehow punching back even harder. How is this related?"

"Weiss," Blake interrupted, lightly giving Weiss a shove with her shoulder, "let Ruby explain."

The heiress didn't look pleased, but accepted Blake's words, turning to her own partner.

"Sorry," she said, "please continue."

Ruby looked surprised by the apology – Blake wasn't surprised, those were worth their weight in Schnee dust – but got over it quickly, continuing on with her explanation.

"It's her semblance," she repeated, gesturing towards her slumbering sister, "that's what's causing all this."

She dropped her hand, sighing.

"Yang's semblance is complicated," she said, "that's why she's supposed to the one to explain it. I told her to explain it a long time ago – but she never did, and you two can't exactly keep waiting for answers."

Ruby stood then, moving to the nearby desk and grabbing some papers and a pencil. Returning to her seat, she began to scribble something onto the paper, before lifting it to show to the pair across from her.

"Is that a bird or a bisected boarbatusk?"

Ignoring Weiss's commentary, Ruby continued.

"The Phoenix," she said, "that's what Yang's semblance is called."

"Did she give herself that name?" Blake interjected, smirking slightly, "because that sounds like something a seven year old would name herself."

"Actually, not quite," the younger girl responded, smiling at the comment, "Our dad named her that first, and our uncle called her it, but it really caught on when the punks in patch and downtown Vale started calling her it in fear."

She placed down the paper, raising a finger as she spoke.

"Get hit, hit back harder. Get forced down, rise back up in flames."

At the perplexed looks sent her way, she continued.

"That's the fundamental power of Yang's semblance. There's just a lot more that makes it up."

"Then what do the flames have to do with it?"

"The flames are just a sign that part of her semblance is engaged," Ruby answered, "the same way that my rose petals show up whenever I use mine. Except, Yang's flames do a lot more damage than rose petals, so she learned how to use them in a fight. Because the real aspect of her semblance is harder to use, she fights with flames in smaller battles, and pretends that that's her real power in order to confuse her opponents."

Ruby returned to her drawings, taking a little longer on the next one. When she held it up, a flaming stick figure (presumably Yang) was situated between two columns, one reading "energy," the other reading "damage."

"In order for Yang to hit back harder," the redhead explained, "she actually has to get hit first. It doesn't have to be a strong hit – it can be a flicking her forehead, or even just yanking her hair, and it'll be enough. Once she's gotten hit, her semblance engages, and the flames usually appear."

Pointing to the drawing, she continued.

"This is where things get a little more complicated. Every hit that Yang takes has two important factors – energy, and damage. Her semblance involves the two, no matter what kind of attack it is. And energy and damage don't always equal the same amounts in one attack, so sometimes Yang can get hit with a lot of energy but very little damage, or vice versa."

She placed her finger on the left column.

"The energy factor is pretty much the power sent in the attack. When Yang gets hit, she absorbs the energy sent her way – which is what really starts up the flaming hair – and stores it up. The more hits she takes, the more power she stores up. Once she has enough energy absorbed, she can use it to make her own attacks stronger, or keep storing it up. More energy absorbed, the stronger the attack. Simple as that."

"So that's why she got so much power from being hit by the robot."

Weiss's statement caused Ruby to pause, before nodding in reply.

"Yeah. It's why she pretty much busted that arm to pieces right away – the energy from being punched through a pillar allowed her to reach the minimum needed to fight back with."

Ruby shifted her position, at the same time moving her finger over to the other column.

"But at the same time, that attack she took was full of a lot of damage. Which is the other part of her semblance – it involves her aura."

Blake replied to that one, confused by the statement.

"Her aura?"

"But isn't it just like ours?"

Ruby nodded to both questions, Blake's initial one and Weiss's follow up.

"Until her semblance is engaged, Yang's aura works like ours," she explained, "it blocks attacks, unless they're too strong to be blocked, in which case her aura will heal whatever injury is inflicted by the attack. But when her semblance is engaged, her aura stops healing."

Ruby paused, placing down the paper to pick up another one.

"It delays."

"Delays?"

Both Blake and Weiss repeated the word, prompting another nod from Ruby. The younger teammate pointed to the paper, where the flaming stick figure was drawn twice. One drawing showed a line around Yang, with items bouncing off of it. The other drawing was much the same, but the items were trapped in the surrounding line instead.

"Yang's semblance changes the effect of her aura," she began, "ordinarily, damage is reflected, or healed. But because she needs the energy of an attack, she can't reflect the damage. Instead, to solve the problem, her aura will stop healing damage – and instead, will 'hold it off.' The effects of the damage delivered will be delayed."

Weiss and Blake looked entirely lost at the concept. Ruby sighed, dropping the picture to free up her hands for their usual gestures.

"Think of it this way," she said, "when you get hit by a sword, you might get a cut. Ordinarily, that cut would appear instantly, and then start to be healed – but in Yang's case, her aura keeps the cut from appearing in the first place. That doesn't mean she won't get a cut, because her aura can't heal it at the same time that it's delaying it, but rather that she'll only get the cut later, when her semblance is deactivated."

"So… she can pretty much hold off injuries until later?"

Ruby nodded at the question, watching Blake and Weiss absorb the information. Eventually, Blake addressed Ruby.

"Is that what's causing this?"

The finger pointed to Yang clarified the question. Ruby tilted her head, before nodding hesitantly. Weiss's eyes narrowed at the suspicious reply.

"Ruby, what aren't you telling us?"

Ruby froze, denials already coming to her mouth, but Weiss's glare kept them from actually being spoken. After a minute, the redhead sighed, reaching up a hand to sheepishly scratch her head.

"It isn't a perfect semblance," she clarified, "the fact is, her semblance sounds a lot better than it actually is."

She looked up towards her sister, eyes showing a bit of worry.

"The damage bit is a double edged sword. On the plus side, it allows her to fight freely, because there isn't pain or injury to slow her down."

Ruby's eyes fell back on her teammates.

"On the other hand, her aura can't heal her injuries, but is still being used up by the act of delaying the damage. Which means…"

"Which means that if she takes a lot of damage, she'll feel it all later."

Ruby nodded at Blake's completion of her sentence, Weiss looking lost in thought.

"That isn't even the biggest problem," Ruby continued, "the biggest problem is that–"

"The biggest problem is that she only has a limited amount of aura, and if she spends it all on delaying the affects of her damage, she won't have any left to heal her actual injuries."

Weiss's words had different effects on those listening. Ruby cast her eyes down to the floor, the unfortunate truth having been stated for her. Blake startled, realization kicking in, the truth of the danger that her partner could land herself in finally coming to light.

"There is one upside, though."

Weiss and Blake looked back to Ruby, who had a small smile on her face.

"When she does deactivate her semblance, any leftover energy she absorbed becomes aura to help her heal. That, and her worst injuries are healed first, so usually all that's left are bruises and scrapes."

They sat in silence after that, both of the monochrome pair absorbing the information in their own ways. Then realization struck Blake, and she looked back to her younger teammate, her eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"Wait, Ruby," she began, catching the girl's attention, "won't she eventually reach a–"

A loud cough, followed by a low groan, cut off her words. Ruby jumped to her feet at the noise that had emanated from above Blake and Weiss, staring up at Yang's bunk.

"She's waking up," she whispered, more to herself than the other company in the room.

"Wait, what?!"

Weiss's cry reminded Ruby of the presence of the other two.

"She's waking up!" she repeated, jumping on to Blake's bunk to check on her sister.

Weiss and Blake sprang to their feet, the former still spewing questions.

"What do you mean she's suddenly waking up? Why was she even asleep so long in the first place?"

Ruby's words tumbled from her mouth, fast and panicked.

"Deactivating her semblance means that all the injuries come on at once. To keep her body from going into shock from it, she falls asleep – it's amazing she held it off as long as she did. She'll stay asleep as long as her aura is remaining or her injuries keep her unconscious – once those factors wear off though, she wakes up to a lot of pain!"

At the last statement, the pair scrambled up beside Ruby – gasps sounded at the sight before them. Bruises that hadn't been there last night spanned across the brawler's body, their teammate a mess of technicolour splotches. Gradients of purple crossed Yang's face, while black and blue peeked out from where her tank top had ridden up. Several small scratches and cuts adorned the places of impact, slowly bleeding.

Ruby bit her lips at the sight, before addressing her teammates.

"Weiss, Blake, go get bandages and a warm washcloth from the bathroom."

The pair didn't react immediately, still in shock at the sight below them.

"Weiss! Blake!"

They startled, staring at the girl calling their names.

"Go!"

At Ruby's command, they both jumped down, hearing another groan come from the brawler as they did so. Ruby leapt down too, racing towards the dormitory door. At Weiss's yelled question over where she was going, Ruby yelled "getting ice!" back at them, then was gone in a blur and a burst of rose petals.

Weiss and Blake made their way to the bathroom, the former grabbing the first aid kit from below the sink while the latter yanked a washcloth off the rack and turned on the sink, waiting for the stream of water to warm.

Once her task was succeeded, Blake turned to leave the bathroom, Weiss already having done so. Re-entering the room, she found Weiss perched up on the end of Yang's bunk, first aid kit open and packages of bandages strewn everywhere. She joined her teammate atop the bunk just in time to hear Ruby's return.

"I'm back!" the girl yelled, a bag of ice wrapped in her cloak and clenched in her arms, "how is she?"

"Still waking up," Blake replied, as another bout of violent coughing spilled from Yang's lips. She placed down the washcloth, reaching out to prop up the injured blonde.

The movement stirred Yang, her eyes opening slightly, pupils awash with red amongst lilac. The bunk shook as Ruby leapt up and joined them – Blake briefly feared for their lives, placed precariously atop stacks of books – setting the bag of ice beside her and wrapping it in her own washcloth snagged from the bathroom.

"Yang?" the sister stated, receiving a low groan in response, "can you hear me?"

"Wha…"

The words were cut off by more coughing, Yang slowly returning to consciousness, trying to prop herself up on shaking arms. Blake grabbed her shoulders as her arms gave out, Weiss grabbing a pillow to stick behind her back as they propped her sitting upwards.

"Don't try to speak," Blake chastised, though there was hardly any fire in her words, "you're hurt.

"S'not… that bad…"

"It is, Yang," Ruby interrupted, grabbing her sister's ankles and yanking her back down, flat onto her back, "I don't think I've ever seen you this bad before."

With another groan, Yang's eyes opened completely, hazy lilac ringed with red. She hissed in pain as Ruby yanked on her tank top, shoving it up enough to reveal the dark bruise on her torso. The leader pursed her lips before addressing the Faunus on her right.

"Blake," she began, catching her teammate's attention, "do you know how to check for broken ribs?"

A while back, the Faunus had told them of the bits of first aid she knew, that she had learned in the field with the White Fang. It wasn't a lot, but it did help – and broken ribs fell into her medical knowledge. She nodded in reply, receiving the same gesture in return, before she turned to examine her partner.

The concern was obvious – Yang's whole body was covered in bruises, but her left side had been where the robot had slammed its fist into her, and was very likely to have some kind of break. With gentle hands, Blake prodded the girl's side – immediately, Yang whined in pain, eyes clenching shut, fingers twisting her sheets. The Faunus muttered soft, rapid apologies, but didn't stop in her ministrations.

Nothing seemed too bad, just bruised, until Blake prodded the third rib and Yang _yelled_ , the sound unbidden from the brawler's lips. Shooting Ruby a glance, Blake returned to the rib – Ruby leaned forwards, covering her sister's mouth just as Blake touched the injured side again. The Faunus worked as quickly as she could, doing her best to ignore the muffled cries, the tears that had slipped out the corners of closed eyes. After a moment, she withdrew her hands – Ruby did the same a moment later, letting Yang breathe normally.

"It isn't shattered," Blake explained, drawing a sigh of relief from Ruby, "but it's safe to say it's cracked, at least. Or just very badly bruised."

Weiss gestured to the massive bruising on the girl's side as if to say "no shit;" Blake ignored her and continued on.

"We should probably get her to the infirmary, just in–"

" _No_."

The word was forced out between clenched teeth, drawing their attention to the girl in question.

"Yang–"

"No infirmary," Yang interrupted again, cutting off her sister's response, "they'll ask how I got injured, and then we'll all be in trouble."

"You don't know that," Weiss began, "and if your injuries are that serious, you can't just brush them off."

Yang chuckled, wincing as the motion aggravated her ribs.

"Weiss," she said, "believe me, I know how it feels to really be injured. I'll be fine. This isn't the worst I've been, regardless of what Ruby says."

Blake and Weiss glanced between the sisters, waiting for Ruby's response. Eventually, the redhead sighed heavily.

"Fine," she relented, glaring at Yang's small smile in response, "we won't make you go to the infirmary."

The redhead then quickly leaned forwards, grabbing her sister's nose and squeezing tight, Yang yelping at the motion.

"But," Ruby growled, ignoring her sister's cries of pain, "you lie about how much pain you're actually in, and I swear to Dust Yang, I will call up Dad and tell him you're being stupidly reckless with your semblance again!"

"Fine, fine! Okay!"

Ruby let go and leaned back at Yang's nasally agreement, Blake and Weiss sharing a look of surprise and slight fear at the sight. They settled into silence, until Yang struggled to sit up again, Blake moving to help her. The quiet returned, and no one spoke for several minutes, before Ruby reached down and grabbed the cloth-wrapped bag of ice, dropping it on Yang's bruised torso with a surprising lack of sympathy.

Ignoring her sister's sounds of protest, Ruby jumped off the bunk bed, landing on the floor and heading towards the door.

"I," she explained, "have to go and tell Goodwitch you're awake, so she can speak personally with you later. Blake, Weiss, you patch her up."

Yang paled; Blake chuckled; Weiss questioned.

"What did you even tell Glynda to keep Yang from getting in trouble?"

Ruby grinned evilly at Weiss's query.

"That's for me to know, and for Yang to find out."

Blake outright laughed at Yang's groan. Smiling, Ruby turned, finishing the walk to the door. She paused in the door way though, before speaking, but not turning around to face them.

"Yang," she said, pausing for a moment.

"Don't ever do that again."

Then she was gone, her cloak swirling around the doorframe, out of sight. That left Yang, Blake and Weiss, all still perched atop the brawler's bunk. At her sister's words, Yang's smiled had faded, and she dropped her head slightly, letting her bangs hang over her eyes. The trio sat in silence, before Weiss rustled around in the first aid kit, trying to find the bruise cream.

"So," Weiss began, catching the attention of both her bunkmates, "next time you decide to sleep for seventeen hours straight, it'd be nice to know the reasons _beforehand_."

"Ruby told you."

It wasn't a question, but a statement. Blake and Weiss shared a look of concern, before Blake tentatively answered.

"She did."

Yang straightened up, looking out towards the window.

"I'll have to thank her for it later," she said softly, "I know how hard she finds it to explain."

"Yang…"

The blonde closed her eyes, waiting for the axe to fall.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

The question went unanswered for a moment, before Yang sighed, shrugging as best as her injuries would allow.

"It never really felt like the right time to bring it up," she explained, looking slightly sheepish.

"Training or combat practice would have been a good opportunity."

"Honestly Weiss, do you really think that would have added anything? 'Hey, guess what, I grow stronger if you punch me into the ground! Go for it!'"

Blake chuckled at that, Weiss smiling slightly.

"It's not really an easy thing to throw out there," Yang continued, "not that it's something I'm ashamed of, or anything. I just never really know how to bring it up. And considering I don't always use it in a fight, it didn't seem like the most important detail."

"Well, knowing that my partner isn't going to die from being smashed through a pillar is a nice piece of mind to have in advance," Blake added, "but I get your point."

Yang smiled guiltily at that, apologizing softly. Blake shook her head to let her know it was alright, before picking up the forgotten washcloth and reaching out to clean a small cut on her forehead, the blonde wincing at the contact. Weiss unscrewed the lid on the bruise cream, before she reached up to rub it over Yang's eyebrow, who sighed at the cool relief.

"Wow," the blonde said after a moment, "of all the scenarios I predicted to come out of this, two lovely ladies cleaning me up was what I expected the least."

Her words were immediately followed by yelps of pain as both Weiss and Blake gave a tug on one of her ears each. Rubbing the sore tips of them, Yang scowled, but didn't make a follow up comment (the glares send her way when she opened her mouth helped).

They sat in silence for a bit, Blake helping Weiss with the bruise cream where Yang couldn't reach the injuries herself. When the wounds were treated, Weiss capped the cream, staring pointedly at the blonde.

"Ruby was right," she stated flatly, "don't ever do that again."

Yang didn't say anything, instead looking down.

"We don't meant don't get hurt," Blake elaborated, "because in this job, that's not really possible. And we're not saying don't use your semblance either. Just… try not to let yourself get that hurt, Yang. And if you do, tell us next time. So we know what to expect."

Yang didn't reply for a moment, before she looked back up, lilac eyes flicking between her partner and her teammate. Then she nodded, a small smile gracing her face.

Weiss and Blake returned the expression, before the latter pointed a stern finger at the blonde.

"Stay in bed," she commanded, "we'll bring you your stuff. You're stuck here for a day or so – at least until I can touch that rib without you screaming bloody murder at me for it."

Yang's groan wasn't one of pain, but rather annoyance – but she didn't protest, so Blake took it to mean compliance. The Faunus collected the washcloth, turning and stepping down from Yang's bunk onto her own. She heard Weiss do the same, and tossed the heiress the cloth to hang back up, as she was heading back to the bathroom to return the first aid kit to its rightful place.

Gathering some of Yang's messy belongings, as well as her homework, Blake heard the blonde sigh, and the sound of her shifting around. If she was already feeling well enough to move around, Blake guessed that she didn't have to worry too much. Still, despite that reassurance, she couldn't help but feel like she was missing something important – a question that had gone unanswered, on a topic she could no longer recall.


	2. Burning Out

The opportunity to recall it didn't come for a long time, until an evening following another large, strenuous battle. It hadn't just been RWBY in the fight, either – Sun and Neptune, JNPR, several of the professors, even team CFVY had been involved. The Grimm cleared out, Vale's train tunnel boarded up once more, and Roman Torchwick safely in custody meant that they could all finally sleep, huntress duties well and truly attended to.

And sleep they did, happily – especially team RWBY, who had all but fallen asleep the moment they hit their pillows. Fighting Grimm was one thing, fighting White Fang and evil villains was another, but fighting both? That was just asking for exhaustion. And exhausted they were, each of them dozing off on the airship, except Yang, who somehow managed to stay awake.

When they'd returned to Beacon they'd bid their goodbyes to JNPR and CFVY, taking a moment to watch the sunset and Vale's recovery before deciding, at last, to go enjoy their well earned sleep. And hours later, after the sun had long set and the shattered moon had returned to its place in the sky, Blake woke up.

It wasn't unusual for her to do so – years in the White Fang had taught her to be a light sleeper, and even after, long periods of sleep were something she wasn't accustomed to, 'cat nap' jokes aside. It would take a lot for her to actually admit it to her team, but Blake had a custom when she woke up in the middle of the night – checking on each of her teammates. It didn't require going up to them or anything, unless she'd had a nightmare, but just glancing to see them breathing was enough. And on a night following a day spent fighting monsters and Grimm, it was a little more necessary than usual.

The Faunus's gaze fell on each of her teammate in term – first to Weiss, who slept curled close to the wall; then to Ruby, whose mounds of blankets rising and falling were the only indication she were still alive; and finally to Yang, whose breathing was audible in the quiet room. Blake leaned slightly out of her bunk as she checked up on each of them; her night vision was more than adequate, but when she was as tired as she was, it was a little harder to focus.

The leaning was what alerted her to the problem. Something fell onto her nose – a drop of liquid, coming from above. Frowning, Blake wiped at her nose, a dark smear on her finger when she pulled it away, colour lost in the darkness of the room. She glanced up to find Yang's arm flopped over the edge of her bunk – the brawler had a habit of sleeping on her stomach, and limbs often made their ways over the edge.

Blake stood, reaching out a hand to return the stray limb up onto the bunk again, to keep Yang from feeling the effects when she woke up. But upon touching her arm, the feeling of liquid against her fingertips caused her to pull away in surprise – confused, Blake leaned towards Yang's arm, eyes finally catching sight of a dark stream of liquid, running down her arm, pooling in her palm, dripping off her fingertips to the floor below.

Dread shot through Blake at the sight. Cautiously, she traced the stream upwards, realizing that it came from out of sight, blocked by the bar of Yang's bunk. Cursing under her breath, Blake pulled herself quietly and carefully up onto her partner's bunk – and there was a moment of realization at the sight in front of her, before fear shot like ice through her veins.

"RUBY!"

Blake's yell shattered the silence of the night – Yang didn't react at all, but across from her, Ruby mumbled something and rolled over. Weiss, always the light sleeper, shot upwards at the cry.

"Blake?" the call came from down below, sleep muddled words tinged with confusion, "what's going–"

"Turn on the light and wake up Ruby!"

Blake's words were panicked, her eyes still taking in the sight before her, trying to figure out what to do, where to even begin. Weiss caught the fear and desperation in her voice and leapt out of bed, racing to the wall and smacking the lightswitch.

Yellow light flooded the dark room, blinding Blake temporarily – Ruby groaned loudly at the bright intrusion, Weiss already at the side of her bunk, shaking the girl awake.

"W-Weiss? Wha's wrong? What's going–"

"Ruby! It's Yang!"

At her sister's name, Ruby was immediately awake, throwing off her covers and bounding down to the floor, then up onto Yang's bunk. She gasped at the sight, Weiss doing the same as she joined them. Blake couldn't blame either of them.

If Yang had looked worrisome in the dark with Blake's night vision, than the light and return of colour had only increased that concern tenfold. The few injuries visible were as concerning as her torso had been all those nights before, the first time Blake had heard of her partner's true semblance. The skin on her back, where neither hair nor clothing covered, were an impossibly dark colour, bruising in strange patterns, like the wall of a cargo container. Her shoulders had scrapes and cuts all over, bruises splashed in between like paint, blood dripping to the bedsheets and down the arm Yang had hanging off the edge of the bunk, the source that had alerted Blake in the first place to the danger.

The brawler's forearms were heavily bruised, save for where Ember Celica had lain, and her upper arms had distinctive marks on them – fingerprints, evidence of a tight hold. But perhaps most concerning of all was red patch on the back of her head, dripping blood freely into golden hair, a wound hidden below the beauty.

The trio took it in for a moment, until Blake's mind restarted, and logic overrode the panic, spurring her into action.

"Ruby," she said, startling the girl from her own staring, "go find a staff member."

Confused and concerned silver eyes looked up at hers. Blake elaborated, looking back to her battered partner.

"All the staff members are trained in first aid, and the infirmary is closed at this time of night. We _need_ to find one of them, and you're the fastest, and we don't have much time!"

"B-but Yang–"

"We'll look after her. Now _go_!"

Ruby's last expression was one of uncertainty and concern, before it blurred and disappeared. The door crashed against the wall as she whipped it open on the way out, the sound echoing down the empty hallway. Blake bit her lip, before she looked up at Weiss, who was staring back in worry.

"Weiss, I need you to help me turn her over. We don't know what we're dealing with until we see her other side."

Weiss nodded, moving down the bed to take the spot on her other side. She took a hold of Yang's shoulder, while Blake grabbed her legs.

"If this is what she looks like from the back, then…"

"We'll have to hope for the best," Blake interrupted, not letting her finish the statement, "On three. One… two… three!"

The pair pushed and pulled Yang's limp body, effectively turning the brawler onto her side, then onto her back. And it was then, seeing the damage before her, that Blake felt the last of the hope that Yang would be okay without a staff member slip away.

Red and purple was all she saw at first, hues of it all across skin that showed outside of the clothes. Blake was, for once, incredibly grateful that Yang didn't wear a lot of clothing to bed – only the tank top really obscured any possible other damage. Blake pulled up said tank top, breathing a small sigh of relief at the lack of any worse injuries - just more bruising and cuts, but nothing that seemed overly life-threatening, at the moment. The Faunus let her eyes fall on the injuries – if the back had looked bad, then the multitude of cuts and bruises on the fronts were downright awful.

"Blake, look!"

Weiss's cry pulled her attention to the heiress's pointing finger, following its direction to Yang's face, where a bruise was forming right in front of them. As the pair watched in shock, black and blue slowly spread out across her eye, blood beginning to trickle from one nostril.

"She still has aura…?"

Blake let her question trail off, but Weiss gasped at it. At Blake's querying look, she explained.

"If she's still got aura left, then she's still got injuries. And Ruby said her aura heals her worst injuries first, so if those aren't fully healed yet…"

"Then we're going to have a far worse situation on our hands."

Weiss nodded, but before she could reply with words, a third voice joined their conversation.

"Weiss? Blake? Is everything alright?"

They whirled to find Pyrrha standing in the doorway, her team gathered behind them, still looking tired.

"Pyrrha" Blake breathed, before turning and looking at Yang, trying to decide what the best course of action was. Deciding quickly, she turned back to the group at the entrance to their room.

"I need you to help us get Yang onto my bunk," she explained quickly, "she's too heavy for just Weiss and I to carry, and we can't treat her up here."

Pyrrha nodded, quickly rushing to the bunk bed. She pulled herself up beside them, then gasped loudly at the sight. Emerald eyes shot up to meet concerned amber, before Pyrrha's mouth straightened out in a determined grimace, and nodded, ready to help. Jaune, Nora, and Ren had moved to them as well, standing beside the beds, fidgeting nervously at Pyrrha's reaction, unable to see the blonde for themselves.

"Alright, here's what we're going to do…"

When Blake had finished relaying her instructions, those listening nodded, taking their needed positions. With a little manhandling and a lot of effort – Yang wasn't exactly a lightweight – they managed to get her down below, setting her onto Blake's bed, white sheets be damned. The owner of the sacrificed sheets grabbed Yang's bloodied pillow, setting it below her head, keeping her upright and keeping her from possibly choking.

It proved to be a wise decision – the brawler coughed a moment later, blood spilling from her lips. Blake swore audibly, unsure of what to do, of how to help – her training didn't cover injuries this bad, least of all internal ones. Her saviour, however, arrived in the state of a very panicked Ruby, and a rather disgruntled Glynda.

"I found Goodwitch!" Ruby proclaimed as she raced into the room, all traces of formality abandoned in her current state, "how's Yang?"

JNPR moved aside at her arrival, letting her stand beside her sister, taking in the sight for herself.

"Oh…"

Words couldn't come to Ruby at that, tears welling up in her eyes at the sight. Glynda came up behind them, assessing the situation immediately.

"Miss Schnee," she said authoritatively, words even despite the panic in the room, "would you please escort Miss Rose to team JNPR's dormitory, for the time being."

"No!" Ruby's protest was immediate, "she's my sister, I have to stay with her!"

Glynda's eyes softened slightly, and her voice was kinder when she spoke again.

"I know," she replied, "that's all the more reason why you can't be. She's your sister, and as such I cannot allow you to be around when we're treating her injuries."

"But…"

"It'll be okay, Ruby."

Weiss had come up behind her partner, laying a protective hand on the girl's shoulder, offering a shaky smile to her when she turned to look at her with teary eyes.

"Blake will look after her, and we'll be right next door if anything happens."

Ruby looked back and forth between her sister and Weiss, a silent decision in her mind. After a moment, she nodded, looking up at Blake.

"Take care of her," she said, choking the words past tears.

Blake nodded, words beyond her at the moment. Ruby turned to go, Weiss walking beside her with a supportive arm across her shoulders. Glynda watched them go, before nodding at those still in the room.

"Miss Belladonna, Miss Nikos, please stay with me. The rest of you, back to your room."

They complied, Pyrrha moving to stand beside Blake as Glynda stared down at Yang, taking in the injuries before her. She looked back up at them, a stern glare fixated over the top of her glasses.

"I need you to help me roll her onto her side," she stated simply, "I can properly assess the damage that way."

As they moved to help out, Glynda kept talking, though more absent mindedly than demanding.

"All these injuries, you moving her around, and she's still sleeping?"

"It's her semblance," Blake explained, Glynda looking up at her in surprise, "you'd have to really ask Ruby, but it has to do with her aura. She'll wake up when it runs out completely."

As if on cue, a quiet groan came from the brawler below their hands, before lilac eyes cracked open, unfocused and filled with pain. There was a moment of silence, half-closed eyes staring up at wide, worried ones, before the pain fully registered and Yang reacted. She coughed again, eyes screwing shut as blood spilled from her lips, her torso contracting with the movement.

"Yang!"

Blake moved into action immediately, catching the blonde's shoulders just as the girl tried to sit up instinctively, holding her down against the pillow.

"Bl-Blake?"

A single eye opened enough to focus on Blake, who nodded and replied.

"You're hurt, Yang. Badly hurt. I… You can't move, okay?"

Yang blinked and tried to nod, before the coughing returned and left her struggling to breathe. Glynda had moved into action as well, fingers ghosting over injuries. Pyrrha hovered nervously at the end of the bed, before Glynda looked up between her and Blake, her glasses having slipped to the edge of her nose.

"Blake, keep your hands on her shoulders, Pyrrha, hold down her legs. This will hurt, and she'll fight it, but you _need_ to keep her pinned. Understand?"

The pair exchanged a panicked glance, but nodded in reply to Glynda, who moved to stand above Yang, hands folded just above the bottom of her ribcage. Pyrrha took her place at the end of the bed, hands tight around Yang's ankles; Blake adjusted her grip, making sure it was tight. With a glance to each girl to make sure they were ready, Glynda glanced down at her student, and closed her eyes.

A bright purple glyph lit up the room, appearing over Yang's torso, designs and words spinning slowly in it. Glynda opened her eyes, then thrust her hands downwards, through the glyph and onto Yang's torso. The reaction was immediate – Yang's eyes flew open, wide and filled with pain, as a cry tore from her throat, blood at the corners of her mouth as a crack resounded from her chest. She tensed, struggling to break free from the tight grips – but Blake and Pyrrha held fast, trusting their professor.

Glynda repeated the action once, twice, three more times, each movement drawing a whimper from the blonde, who tried to fight each time to get away, tears streaming down her face. On the fourth compression, Glynda pulled her hands away, the glyph winking out of existence. This time, Yang didn't fight back, her eyes closing instead, her body going limp. For a moment, Blake though Glynda had killed the girl – until she caught sight of the steady rise and fall of Yang's chest.

Relief flooded through her, and she turned to look at Pyrrha, who stared back in shock. Both their eyes moved to Goodwitch, who had straightened, looking slightly tired.

"What…?"

The question didn't need any other words to it.

"Healing glyph," Glynda explained, pushing her glasses back to their rightful position on her nose, "very hard to do, and very dangerous. Heals serious injury – missing limbs, ruptured organs, and so on – but causes such a high amount of pain that it can possibly kill those it is used on."

"You risked that? What if it had gone wrong? What if you had–"

"Miss Belladonna."

Glynda's harsh tone kept the Faunus' words in her throat, despite Blake's rising anger at the reckless action.

"First of all, there is no guarantee it would have killed Miss Xiao Long; if one's tolerance for pain is high enough, there is less risk, and considering her semblance involves her getting slammed through pillars, I'd say she has a high tolerance at this point."

Glynda's tone softened as she looked back down at Yang, who now slept on, breathing even.

"Secondly, I have no doubt that had I not risked using it, Yang would have died."

The silence that fell was a heavy one, before the sound of coughing brought them back to the girl on the bed. The coughing wasn't strong – more of a clearing of the throat – and accompanied the opening of lilac eyes, hazy and unfocused, but no longer riddled with pain.

"Blake...? Pyrrha…? What happened?"

Glynda smiled at the words, turning to leave.

"I will fetch your teammates," she said, "exchange any heartfelt words now, before you are bombarded by the rest."

Then she was gone, her cape moving with her movements. Pyrrha and Blake exchanged a look before crouching beside the bed, Yang looking tiredly at them both, still waiting for an answer. Pyrrha broke the silence first, shaking her head as she spoke.

"You idiot."

Blake laughed at that, causing Yang to look at her. The blonde tried to move in the next moment, her entire body shaking with the motion, prompting a wave of chastisement from the pair watching. The duo helped Yang sit up, propping her back to the wall. Satisfied with her new level, Yang turned to face Blake, reaching out a hand and running it along her cheekbone. She pulled it away, letting Blake see the liquid on it – the Faunus raised a hand to her own face, finding the tears there she hadn't even know she'd been crying.

"Hey, now," came the soft voice, comforting even after nearly facing death itself, "I'm alright. No need for that."

Blake felt a rush of emotions – wonderment, anger, worry, and relief, all brought on from the girl before her.

"You stupid, inconceivable, reckless…" Blake's words trailed off, and she choked back a sob all too eager to appear before continuing, "you almost died, Yang. It's not alright, and you're not fine, and… _you're not the one supposed to be comforting me!_ "

But there was no ire in her last words, and Yang smiled at them, Pyrrha to her side chuckling.

"Sorry," Yang said softly, "I'm sorry."

"You'd better be."

The moment was, then, predictably ruined by the return of the others.

"YANG!"

Ruby's cry was loud enough to rouse the entire dormitory, assuming they hadn't already awoken from the ruckus yet. The redheaded sister raced towards Yang's bedside, only held back from throwing herself at the injured girl by the ever-level-headed Weiss. The redhead threw herself to her knees beside her sister, who gave her the warmest grin she could manage – one that wasn't too bad, considering the hell she'd just been through.

Ruby's face scrunched up at the grin sent her way, and though she tried to hold back her tears, they ran down her face anyways as she threw herself forwards to hug her older sister. Yang returned the hug as best she could, strengthless arms coming up to embrace Ruby back.

"Hey, it's okay," Yang comforted again, holding her sister as she sobbed into her, "I'm okay, I'm fine."

"You almost weren't."

Weiss's words cut through the tender moment like a knife, bringing back the seriousness of the former event, the first time this had happened. Ruby's sobs slowed and faded away entirely as Yang looked up at Weiss, who stared back flatly, worry and faint anger on her face.

"She's right, Yang."

All eyes went to Blake at her comment, even Ruby, who had pulled herself from the hug and leaned away from her sister.

"You nearly died," Blake continued, doing her best to ignore the looks of shock that crossed her teammates faces, "and that's not okay."

"You almost _died_?"

Ruby's voice cracked on the last word, fresh tears running down her face as she stared at the sister she had almost lost.

"Ruby, I…"

"No, Yang! Just… no! You don't get to always play big sister, you don't get to be tough all the time, you _can't_ do that if this happens! I know you want to protect us, I know you never want to see you as weak, but Yang – you almost died! You almost d-died, and the last thing I would have seen was you bleeding out. Bleeding out! In what world is that okay, Yang? I know this is a part of your semblance, a-and I know that you don't always want to tell us when you're hurt, but… _this isn't okay, Yang!_ "

The end of Ruby's outburst was met by silence; a silence no one could even think to break. No one, except the person it had been aimed at.

"I didn't know."

Yang's words were soft, but even, the usual fire in her words completely gone. Ruby looked back up to her sister, confused.

"What do you mean?"

Yang closed her eyes for a moment, as though gathering her words. She kept them closed as she continued to speak.

"I mean, I didn't know I was hurt this bad. I knew I was hurt, sure, but not this much. I had no way of knowing that the damage was this bad when I couldn't get enough energy to even engage my semblance properly."

At this, Ruby's mouth hung open, Yang's words not fully making sense. It was Weiss who questioned further.

"Don't you get high damage from attacks with high energy? How could you not have been able to engage it?"

Yang's fingers twisted the sheets beside her, eyebrows furrowing as she recalled the events of the day.

"That's only if the damage is the same as the energy. Neo, or whatever her name is – I think she knew that. None of her attacks had really energy behind them whatsoever – they were all flips, or holds, or just simple blocks and punches. Nothing I could really absorb, so I never got the minimum I needed to hit her back harder."

Blake met Weiss's worried gaze over this information. She sounded like the perfect opponent for Yang – taking her down without ever giving her something to fight back with.

"So, your semblance engaged from the damage, then, and your aura held off the effects. But you didn't know how bad the actual damage was, because the attacks hadn't seemed strong at all."

A tired nod was all Blake received in reply; it appeared that the day had taken all the strength from Yang, all the fight. Exhaustion emanated from the brawler.

"Now we know for next time."

Ruby's words startled them all, the girl herself looking almost hopeful in spite of the information she'd just been given. Yang looked at her in confusion.

"Ruby…?"

"Now we know you don't fight Neo alone," Ruby continued, waving her hands at the immediate look of disdain that passed across Yang's face, "no buts! You've been able to punch every opponent you've ever met through a wall until now, Yang. It makes sense you've finally found someone you can't just beat with strength alone. And that's okay! It's what we're a team for."

A tired smile crossed Yang's face in response, her protests gone, or at least held off until she had the strength to argue again.

"I'd like a report on "Neo," when you get the chance," Glynda interjected, "she sounds like an enemy we should be keeping tabs on."

"Sure, sure," Yang agreed, waving a hand in reply as she started to yawn before replying, "but it can wait until tomorrow. Right now I need to catch some sleep."

"Oh, I don't think so," Glynda countered, raising an eyebrow at her student, "right now we need to go to the infirmary to patch up those minor wound of yours, before you undo all my hard work and bleed out during the night."

Glynda's comment reminded Yang that she was, in fact, still rather injured, just not in danger of losing her life anymore. As the brawler inspected her many injuries, Glynda addressed her again.

"Can you walk?"

Yang paused, then truthfully shook her head, gesturing to her injured legs. Glynda sighed, and rolled her eyes, before Pyrrha offered a solution.

"I can help with that," the redhead said, moving over to stand beside Yang, before suddenly swooping her up into a bridal carry. The blonde yelped in shock, looping her arms around Pyrrha's neck to keep from falling over, before she realized the look of the situation she found herself in. Yang turned bright red, the blush spreading across her cheeks and slowly across her whole face, even down her neck to her collarbone.

"P-Pyrrha? Wasn't there a less embarrassing hold you could have chosen?"

"Nope!" the Spartan replied in a sing-song voice, "only embarrassing holds for friends who nearly get killed and only let people find out in the dead of night!"

"Can't argue with that logic," Blake agreed, watching Glynda sigh and turn to leave the room.

"Get some rest, all of you," the headmistress called as she left, "you may visit your reckless fool of a teammate tomorrow."

Pyrrha followed her out of the room, Yang calling out as she was carried away.

"Oh, uh, good night team! Yay team! Yay for life!"

Her shouts echoed down the hall, as well as a "shut up" from Goodwitch and the sound of a riding crop whacking her on the head. The rest of team RWBY, for their part, only rolled their eyes.

"Well, at least we know she's feeling better," Weiss muttered, staring at the empty doorway.

"Yeah," Blake agreed, though there really wasn't any point to it. Ruby caught her attention with a cry.

"Aw, gross!"

The Faunus turned back to Ruby, who stood staring at her bed in slight disgust.

"Sorry, Blake," the younger girl said, looking at her teammate apologetically, "Yang's blood got all over your bed."

"I doubt Yang's bed is much better," Weiss added, looking at the mess critically. Ruby solved the problem a moment later.

"Well, I'm sure Weiss wouldn't mind sharing for just one night!"

"I'm sorry, what would I not mind?"

"Bunking with me! Now come on!"

With far too much enthusiasm for the time of night, Ruby all but grabbed Weiss and tossed the lithe girl up into her capony-covered bed, ignoring the heiress's indignant shrieks. Ruby waved to Blake, a wide grin on her face.

"G'night, Blake! Sleep well!"

And with that, she leapt up into bed as well, sending the entire thing rocking. Blake briefly calculated whether or not sleeping in bloodied sheets was a better idea than risking her life underneath Ruby's death trap of a bed, but eventually relented. Weiss hadn't died from it yet, so that was promising.

Blake cast one last glance around the room, before moving to turn of the light. Bathed in darkness once again, it was like the events of the past half hour had never happened – minus the bloodstains and the lack of their beloved brawler, Blake almost believed it could have been a dream.

Or, she supposed, as she slipped under Weiss's _clean_ sheets, a nightmare. After all, the thought of any of her team members getting hurt was enough to be a nightmare, but the thought of Yang dying from her semblance? That was nightmare material; and the fact it had nearly just happened was still too fresh to think about.

Blake shuddered; suddenly glad for the limits of her own semblance. It was easy to envy another's strength – Yang's especially – but it was also easy to forget that strength always came with a weakness. And in Yang's case, that weakness was the possibility of burning out.


End file.
